Challenging Concepts

Question 1

what is the coaching process

Answer 1

to both the intervention programmes and the principles and theories on which it might be based, and the specific engagement between an athlete/team and a coach

Question 2

what are some problems with the coaching process

Answer 2

• dominance of bio-scientific enquiry
• reliance on reductionist modelling
• quieting of alternative discourse

Question 3

what is the current discourse

Answer 3

coaching is complex, integrated and managed activity rather than summation of isolated practices

Question 4

what are the socio-cultural aspects of coaching

Answer 4

• coaching is a distinctly social practice rapidly gaining theoretical and empirical support
• as the coaching process is considered primarily a social activity and coaches are ‘… social beings operating in an environment, so that their activities ought to be explained as such’

Question 5

what are the pedagogical aspects of coaching

Answer 5

• link between coaching and teaching to promote athlete learning
• pedagogy is framed as ‘… a problematic process that incorporates how one teaches, how one learns, what is being taught and the context that it occurs. The key to adopting this view lies in making coaches aware of the social and educational dynamics which have created their identities and philosophies and hence their ability to perform’